Guardians of Scotland

The Course

Following a busy Jacobites course in November and December, it's time to go back another 450 years to the first Scottish War of Independence and the conflict between Edward I of England and characters including Wallace, de Moray, Bruce, Lamberton and Douglas.

The course takes a step-by-step approach to navigating the history and using evidence to arrive at your own understanding of the period as a whole. As a guide my role is to provide evidence, media and discussion - not to pass on my own conclusions.

Over six weeks the course involves:

- Exploring the stories of William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and the Good Sir James Douglas.- Evaluating original sources and drawing your own conclusions.- Tracking and considering your understanding of major themes and events.

The course includes:

- A weekly journal with a narrative history, timelines, sources and activities.- A Facebook page with regular posts of articles, images, original sources and multimedia.- A guided discussion each weekend. (Sundays: 9 pm and Midnight GMT for an hour each).

There are no tests, papers or assessments, but each booklet includes some quick, optional activities such as investigating a particular original source or evaluating a historical character. By working through the course you can expect the following outcomes:

- A clear, evidence-based understanding of events at the time.- Experience in working with a wide range of primary and secondary sources.- Awareness of how to go about building evidence-based historical narratives.- Familiarity with the options for using multimedia to promote history/ historical narratives.- Plenty of approaches to continuing your historical research.

Posts/ threads are open at any time, so Sunday meet-ups are also entirely optional.

Guardians of Scotland

The course covers the early conflict when William Wallace and Sir Andrew Murray/ de Moray were to the fore. However, the fighting lasted for over 30 years and events become driven by Robert I or ‘The Bruce’ and his aide Sir James Douglas.

Participants will follow a thorough review of events during the conflict, while using a range of methods to investigating core issues and understandings about the period. The content is suitable for beginners and enthusiasts.

The 2-4+ hours is sufficient to explore the PDF booklets and to scan through linked sites and media. However, by accessing a wide variety of archives and sources the course also opens up a route into much further investigation of the whole period.

PART 1 - THE ROAD TO BANNOCKBURN

- The Maid of Norway

This section covers events leading up to and including the start of the war, largely involving Wallace and de Moray.

- Robert I of Scotland

The conflict between Robert the Bruce and Edward I of England is discussed and Robert the Bruce is crowned as King of Scotland.

- The Dragon Banner

Edward I unleashes a campaign to defeat Bruce and to control Scotland.

- Capture the Castles

Robert I and James Douglas lead the Scottish fightback against Edward I's forces.

- The Battle of Bannockburn

PART 2 - THE SCOTTISH CRUSADE

- Talk of Templars

Reconsidering and evaluating Bannockburn and the events that followed.

- Lord of the Marches

The Good Sir James Douglas's guerrilla campaign.

- The Sow

The Seige of Berwick and related events

- Sovereignty

The Scots' Victory

- The Castle of the Stars

The Good Sir James sets off to take King Robert's heart on crusade.

- The Scottish Crusade

The role of the Scottish Church within the conflict.

Signing-Up for the course

The course is set up as an item in the Store just here. PayPal and the usual cards are all available in the store. After sign-up notification goes to me automatically and I'll be in touch via email shortly.

For anyone with dollars or other currencies, the store should convert automatically. (My provider is Squarespace, so based in the US). But please get in touch if there are any hitches.

As the course date approaches the group's Facebook Page will be set-up and we'll arrange access to that.

Just click on the picture of Marjorie Bruce to go to the Store link.

Unless you're a returning participant from the Jacobites course in which case please go here.